Episode 008: “The Battle of Portal City”

In the finale of the pilot miniseries, the fate of the Resistance members, and of all dinosaurkind, hangs in the balance as the Resistance openly rises up against the Holy Northern Church and its alien allies.

Hkhkheee corners Chompscilla in the recording studio, and asks her point blank about the kiss that they shared underneath the High Melisssa’s palace. Chompscilla admits to being torn, but tells Hkhkheee that she’s in love with Gomer, and asks if they can stay friends. A broken-hearted Hkhkheee agrees, and wishes Chompscilla the best. (Token from Rachel to Amanda.)

Gomer calls Rip to the Chompscilla’s Muffins factory, for a chat. Gomer is of the opinion (which Rip disputes) that he’s now Rip’s boss in the professional world, and wants Rip to elevate him in the Resistance ranks to head his own team. Rip agrees, and the two go for drinks. (Token to Ben.)

In his office, Rip gets a call from Ccchhhupp (GM), who reports that a certain Dr. Rahr of the Rahr Institute is very close to having a practical way to make a super-soldier serum for the Resistance, and that intelligence from the captured Melisssa has opened up additional ways in to the High Melisssa’s palace. He asks Rip for a status report. Rip is happy with Chompscilla and Hkhkheee, but has derogatory things to report about Gomer, who wants a promotion, to boot. Ccchhhupp is concerned that Gomer is clearly not a good field agent, and therefore not a good cell leader, but Rip has an alternative plan to move him to a non-field cell to fabricate equipment. Rip promises to have his cell ready to move at the appointed time. (Token from Sue to Ben.)

Chompscilla and Gomer try to sneak in to the High Melisssa’s palace to bring more muffins to the Byakhee in the lab, who seemed to like Chompscilla… and to get photographs to release to the world. Gomer prepares perfect disguises for the pair… and no access cards or passwords. They barely manage to fast-talk their way past the guards, but one of them alertly puts the palace on a higher state of alert, and the Byakhee isn’t in the lab when the two arrive. They escape, barely, empty handed. (Procedural scene; failure.)

Rip summons Gomer to his office, and promotes him to Executive Vice President of Fabrication. Gomer is underwhelmed, especially given Rip’s initial offer of only two staff members. Rip increases the team size to six (counting Gomer), gives him a corner office… and throws him off Rip’s team. (The scene is a wash: Rip got rid of Gomer, but Gomer got his promotion.)

Hkhkheee‘s former handler escapes from the Resistance and makes her way safely back to the High Melisssa’s palace. It’s a set-up, however: Hkhkheee has planted video cameras on her, with Gomer and Chompscilla helping, intending to use the footage to unmask the Church’s alliance with the Byakhee and the experimental program involving the mutated children. (Procedural scene; success.)

Gomer gets to work in the lab, and tries to create a vaccine against the effects of Mutagenic Agent BB, building on Dr. Rahr’s research. What he creates, instead, is a highly successful version of the super-soldier serum, which channels the effects of the mutagenic agent to make its recipients particularly tough and strong in battle. (Procedural scene, with Positive Consequence from previous scene cashed in; success.)

The video results come back, and the Resistance not only has its smoking gun, but also Gomer’s super-soldier formula to lace the newly-introduced muffins with. Finally, the moment arrives to expose the Church, the aliens, and the mutagen program. Rip and Chompscilla narrate the TV exposé, while Hkhkheee and Extinction (GM) play their new single, “Smash the System,” which incites anti-Church demonstrations and riots in the streets. The curtain goes up on the Uprising, to a dino-punk soundtrack. (Procedural scene, success. Positive Consequence to Rip.)

Chompscilla and Gomer break into the Byakhee’s lab in the High Melisssa’s palace, and put the Byakhee to flight. They rescue the mutated baby dinosaurs in the lab, and discuss the future. Chompscilla confesses her love to Gomer, and he grabs her and kisses her. (Token from Rachel to Eugene.)

A portal opens in the heart of the city, and alien troops pour through. The battle is joined, and the dinosaurs gain the upper hand after several days of hard fighting. Finally, the alien Great Leader confronts the Resistance cell members on the roof of the record studio. As the world watches, Hkhkheee, Chompscilla, Rip, and Gomer debate the situation with the outraged alien commander, before Rip kills him with a new muffin-powered weapon. That signals a general offensive throughout the city, and the dinosaurs drive the aliens from the planet. (Token from Ben to Sue.)

After the battle, Hkhkheee seeks out the Melisssa who had been her handler. She is being detained inside the former High Melisssa’s palace, with the rest of the Church loyalists who refuse to recant their former allegiance, and Hkhkheee finds her in the Holy Synod of Polychrome, the Church’s holiest sanctuary. The Melisssa berates Hkhkheee for turning her back on her faith, and Hkhkheee sticks up for herself, demanding in turn why her former handler clings to her old allegiance. Finally, in frustration, Hkhkheee rips off her former mentor’s mask, and discovers that it’s her aunt Jayanet. Rip turns up, and is revealed to be Jayanet’s brother. He and Hkhkheee give up on Jayanet, and leave together. (Token from Amanda to Sue.)

On the road outside the palace, Gomer finds Hkhkheee, and returns to her the money he had stolen from her at the Extinction gig when he first started selling muffins. Rip pulls up in a walking limo, and takes the two of them to their homes. As they ride, they discuss the respective fates of the team members: Chompscilla is very rich from the profits from Chompscilla’s Muffins. Hkhkheee and Extinction are the hottest musical act in the world, their new album is a hit, and they are offered an extremely lucrative new contract. Rip has been chosen to be the President of Portal World, a new network of city-states that has formed in the wake of the Church’s fall. He names Gomer to be the mayor of one of the new cities that are being constructed. Rip expresses pride in his former subordinates, and the three part as friends. (Conference scene; no tokens.)

A century passes. The Byakhee bombard the Earth with asteroids, destroying whole cities, and devastating Portal City. And as the Great Leader and the Church had warned, the alien mutants that the Byakhee had been fighting do find and attack Earth, triggering the Mutant Wars. But in the end, the dinosaurs prevail, and rebuild.

On a beautiful spring day, on the centennial of the Battle of Portal City, huge crowds gather in a park near the former High Melissa’s Palace and the original portal lab, to witness the unveiling of the memorial to the dinosaurs who fell during the Uprising and the Mutant Wars. The memorial is a statue of Rip, Chompscilla, Gomer, and Hkhkheee. As the speeches conclude, the crowd watches with delight as dinosaurkind’s first lunar mission launches from a military base on the horizon. The rocket climbs high, into a clear blue sky filled with the kites of happy, laughing dinosaur children.